Smallville: In the EndPrologue and Chapter 1
by Uber bunny
Summary: Prologue and Chapter 1. Clark questions the key that as Kal-El he chased after.


**Smallville: In the End**

**Prologue**

The rain outside of the car picked up as the windshield wipers slowly started their ascent into full power. A whisky bottle lay in the passenger seat empty and depressing into the wedge where the back of the seat meats the actual cushion. It lay on top of a picture that the man had set there a little while ago. He drew the lip of another whisky bottle to his lips and drank from it until half was gone. He threw it against the passenger door and began crying again. His tears touched the steering wheel in a torrent of pain and emotion. He gritted his teeth and kept on going.

The rain pounded against the roof of the car like a dozen madmen trying to get inside the car and into his head. He screamed with pain and anguish. His heart ached for her. When he heard she had been murdered...he didn't know what to do. He read that Clark Kent was involved though. The newspaper reported it as a simple case of being in the right place at the right time.

He looked into the rearview mirror. His face was a tangled mess of emotion. His eyes were weary and red from the tears that flowed from them like a waterfall yet they contained a hatred and a passion for vengeance that scared him. His face was fine tuned, but he hadn't shaved in weeks so he had stubble all over his face. The radio was playing nothing but commercials now so he turned it off.

In the backseat of the car was a piece of green glowing rock. It had jagged edges all over it's sides. He didn't know the significance...but she had said back at the institution that it hurt this Kent kid. It did something to him...made him weak. He thought he might be able to use it to his advantage. He looked down at the display and saw that he was almost out of fuel. He was also going 75 mph. He tried to think things through, but he looked back into the rearview mirror and then at the picture again and then back into the rearview mirror. He began to cry. He felt something fall under his foot. He tried to make clear what the road was doing, but the thing under his foot was starting to get under the pedals. He looked down to see what it was, suddenly he felt lights coming at him from outside the car. He looked up just in time to see a pair of headlights coming straight at him. He screamed and tried to press the brakes swerving...but the brake pedal wouldn't budge.

His car swerved and then hit the ditch. The car began to roll into the trees with the man flung from the car. He hit a tree dead on forcing him into a state of unconsciousness. His body began to fall but then the meteor rock was flung from the car. It flew straight into the back of the man and through into the tree. It began to glow a bright green. He suddenly awoke screaming. Rain fell now on the picture of a young woman with long brown hair. She looked depressed, torn from love, as blood fell down from the body and onto the picture across the young man's face.

**CHAPTER 1**

The smell of the farm mixed with the soft glow of the sun infiltrated the room. Jonathan Kent opened his eyes slowly, he could feel his wife's arm laying across his chest. To imagine that just a few weeks ago he'd been in a coma was a lot to think about. Jor El' had tried to ruin everything. It may have been what he'd wanted for Clark, but Clark had to make his own decisions. Jor' El could never figure that out. To imagine that Jor' El had taken Clark and then tried to kill Jonathan was hard to swallow, but everything was almost back to normal. Almost.

Clark sat at the kitchen table with the bottle of milk in his hand. He took a long sip and then looked back down at the table, at the crystal that sat in front of him. He wondered about its importance, what it meant. As Kal-El he'd known exactly what it meant. Now it meant nothing. Now it was another part of the mystery that was Clark Kent.

"Son, is everything alright?" asked Jonathan.

Clark jumped a little, turning around to see his father standing at the bottom of the stairs adjusting his flannel shirt.

"Yeah," said Clark unconvincingly.

"You don't sound too sure about that Clark, what happened?" asked Jonathan.

Clark sighed, "Nothing. That's the problem. I can't figure out what this means. I know it's important," Clark held up the key for his father to see, "But important how...I don't know."

Jonathan looked at his son. There were times he didn't know what to say. He wish he had the answers, but Clark was different then most teenage boys. For one thing he wasn't even from this planet, "Look...Whatever Jor-El did...whatever Kal-El intended to do...you're still here and that's what's important. You have a choice still Clark."

"How many choices can I make before something really bad happens to everyone? How many choices have I made that result in everyone getting hurt? It seems like Jor-El doesn't give me a choice," Clark said pleadingly.

"Now...listen to me, Clark," Jonathan said placing his hand on Clark's face, "You can make any choice you want. You and you alone decide your fate. Not Jor-El and certainly not Kal-El. As your parent...as your father...Jor-El could do anything to me he wanted as long as you were able to be who you truly wanted to be."

Jonathan looked into his son's eyes and saw the anxiety that lay behind their blue color. Jonathan didn't know what to do about the key and he certainly didn't know what to do about Jor-El. He sighed and hugged his son who hugged him back. After Jonathan pulled away he saw a little ease in his son's eyes. Clark sat back and sighed, putting the key on the table.

"Is their anything else wrong?" asked Jonathan.

"Nothing that I didn't already fix," replied Clark turning quickly around and picking up the glass of milk.

"Nothing you didn't already fix...Clark what in God's name did you do this time?"

"I tried to fly. I jumped up in the air...I was able to control it for about 5 seconds...but then I fell through the barn roof," Clark was searching for reasons to explain himself.

"You flew? Controlled? My barn roof? Son...what have I told you about practicing your powers around the house?" Jonathan breathed as if he was about to say the answer but then Clark chimed in, "Don't do it unless you want to pay for it."

Clark looked at his dad, "Look, I used my super speed and patched the roof...it's just fine."

"I'll bet," replied Jonathan.

Suddenly a loud crash came from outside and the farm animals began to make a lot of noise. Martha called out from upstairs, "Jonathan?"

"Let me guess...you never want to go into the roofing business?"


End file.
